Operators can tap into the complementary operational capabilities of different imaging sensors by using multiple sensors having different capabilities to image the same scene. Images produced by these multiple sensors are fused into a single gray scale or color image that may be displayed on an imaging device.
Waxman et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,555,324 refers to an apparatus that images a single scene with a visible to near infrared camera and a long wavelength camera. Images produced by these cameras are processed by center-surround shunt processors into the color component images input to a color image display. The center-surround processors in the Waxman et al. patent are single scale processors which enhance the information in the sensor images that match the scale of the processors. The apparatus of the Waxman et al. patent however loses the image information at other scales. It also has a tendency to enhance high frequency noise.
Additionally, the apparatus of the Waxman et al. patent relies on a center-surround processor with limited spatial interactions. On the other hand, the invention presented here replaces it with the multi-neighborhood center-surround processor as its core image enhancement and fusion operator.